Bangkok, Thailand. 24 August 2024 (2567!)
A Very Small Painting
Today, Gentle Reader, I wish to briefly discuss what I shall call Microcollecting – the acquisition of artworks for not much money, with a preference for works that are not too big.
This is something I do: I buy art when I can, within my often very modest budget, and within a sort of unwritten size rule: I assume I’m going to move house at least five more times in my life (more likely 25) and I already have works in storage on three continents and I don’t especially want to make that problem worse.
The biggest artwork I’ve acquired – by trade, no less, and from a friend – is a 50x70cm by François Joly (no, not that one). The smallest, I’m pretty sure, is about 13x15cm and cost $20 in San Francisco back in my 20’s, bought from the dude who had (was) HEAD Gallery. What was his name? The un-googlability of a name like “head” was on nobody’s mind back then. My most recent acquisition? Two small paintings by the very talented and seriously underrated Supmanee Chaisansuk. Well that and a surprise gift of a print by Holly Grimm, thanks Holly!
Doing this seemed like a no-brainer to me even when I was young, but I do sorely wish I’d done it more systematically. There were lots of people whose work I admired and much of it was surely available on the cheap, or even for trade. One of many good art-world tips I got from my old friend James Kuiper (RIP James, in that big kitchen in the sky!) was that most artists who have collections got them by trading art for art. Over time some of the artists you’ve traded with become more prominent, others less, and that’s fine. I just never had the confidence to offer, except in the one case with François and once with good old Trevor Grant, also RIP I think. Dude, Trevor, what picture did I give you?!
Still, now, I buy, and I’m looking forward to buying more when I have a little more free cash. I do keep a microcollecting queue filed loosely in my brain.
But enough about me, let’s generalize!
Dear Artists, Dear Galerists!
Please, please have something for the microcollector to buy at every show, and please make it easy for them to buy it!
What should it be? I’ll give you some fair parameters for a mid-range artist of repute showing at a mid-range gallery. There’s no point in pretending that Gagosian or Zwirner or Hauser will ever do this: for them, letting us hoi-paloi into the gallery in the first place is charity enough.
But for the rest, I propose:
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A nice keepsake, for free. Many galleries have at least a good card, that’s better than nothing!
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A signed poster or similar, for a token payment of say $20-40. Emerging artist? Make it really cool. It’s likely to be seen!
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An original work, at least a limited-edition print if not a small drawing, for $500 or less, with uniqueness and price in proportion to the other work, but never over $500.
That’s it. After that, price for your collectors, you do you.
The reason you should do this is simple: you are likely to win a fan and promoter, for the low low cost of a little empathy. If your staff is any good they will be able to quickly spot a microcollector. Hint: we don’t wear Gucci and we ask questions about the show. We join your mailing list. We comment on the pieces we really like.
When you see those signals, just casually mention that there are some smaller things available by the artist for emerging collectors.
Use that word. Don’t say “microcollector,” instead use a nonsense word that’s already well established in the art world.
And for artists like me, without gallery representation, showing commando so to speak? Sell a f••king painting for $200, come on, you can do it! Small paintings FTW!
I’ll be at the Hotel Art Fair in Bangkok in September with an XXS microbudget.
Think I’ll be able to buy anything? Watch this space!
Hotel Art Fair